One of the stranger aspects of pleasantly toiling at Gawker Media is I'll often learn about our company by reading other publications. In this case, I knew this change was coming, although this did contain some interesting details on our new "reframing" feature.

The idea is to give anyone the ability to reframe an existing article for any audience. Think of it like super-aggregating: You can share an entire article rather than just quoting excerpts or linking to the original, but you can also top it with your own headline, lede, and commentary. “For instance, say a story was written for gamers — they can translate it for a more general audience,” Denton said. “And, if that URL is shared, it is shared with the new headline and intro.”

Basically, all of the maddening-yet-necessary parts of car ownership can be blamed on this guy.

Enter Higginson. Incensed by speeders and careless drivers, Higginson drafted a 1903 petition urging the creation of licensing for both vehicles and drivers. As a man with friends in high places, Higginson’s petition quickly led to the creation of an “Automobile Department” within the state, charged with creating and executing a licensing plan for motorists within Massachusetts. A $2 fee would be assessed to those registering vehicles, and in exchange the commonwealth would issue a state-produced license plate linking car to driver. The first Massachusetts plates were constructed of enameled cast iron, featuring a blue background and a white number.

Long story short, folks are usually willing to pay a stiff premium for products that seem cheap, and prevent a high level of potential risks. It doesn’t matter if the cost of refining and marketing the motor oil comes to only about $1.25 a quart. What matters is whether you have a nice enough picture on an oil bottle that spells out a few well-chosen trigger words.